Golf swing practice club

ABSTRACT

A golf swing practice club which has a linear shaft with a handle at one end and a weighted body at the other end. The body has an axial bore with a spring-biased plunger slidably mounted therein, the plunger having an annular groove therein for removably receiving a spring-biased ball detent for yieldingly holding the plunger in its initial or starting position. An anvil screw closes the outer end of the axial bore and a swinging of the club at a certain speed in a golf swing, will cause the plunger to move along the bore by centrifugal force and to strike the anvil screw with a loud click. The follow through portion of the golf swing will slow the speed of the club and permit the plunger spring to reset the plunger with a less loud click and the ball detent will yieldingly hold the plunger in its reset position ready for the next golf swing.

United States Patent Inventor Wallace E. Davis 2318 Royal Oaks Drive,Alamo, Calif. 94507 Appl. No. 826,459

Filed May 21, 1969 Patented Apr. 20, 1971 GOLF SWING PRACTICE CLUB 7Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 273/186, 273/193 Int. Cl .1 A636 69/36 Field of Search 273/26,183, 186, 193, 194; 46/191 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,543,722 2/1951 Hetzel 273/194R 1/1964 Owen et al 273/Z6BX 3,136,5466/1964 Connolly ABSTRACT: A golf swing practice club which has a linearshaft with a handle at one end and a weighted body at the other end. Thebody has an axial bore with a spring-biased plunger slidably mountedtherein, the plunger having an annular groove therein for removablyreceiving aspringbiased ball detent for yieldingly holding the plungerin its initial or starting position. An anvil screw closes the outer endof the axial bore and a swinging of the club at a certain speed in agolf swing, will cause the plunger to move along the bore by centrifugalforce and to strike the anvil screw with a loud click. The followthrough portion of the golf swing will slow the speed of the club andpermit the plunger spring to reset the plunger with a less loud clickand the ball detent will yieldingly hold the plunger in its resetposition ready for the next golf swing.

Patented April 20, 1971 v, wmk Z? 55 m V We 7 7% WY GOILIF SWTNGPRACTIICE CLUB BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Themost important thing for a golfer to learn is the correct swinging ofthe golf club. It is important that the swinging velocity of the golfclub be at its greatest when the club head is at the bottom of the downswing. The players wrists must uncock late" in the down swing of theclub in order to deliver the maximum club head speed at the moment ofstriking the golf ball. A full follow through of the golf swing requiresthat the golfers arms be fully extended at the end of the swing.

My golf swing practice club has a properly weighted body at the outerend of the linear shaft that is actually slightly heavier than theactual golf club head. The shaft of my practice club is shorter inlength than the standard golf club shaft and this permits the device tobe used indoors. The weighted body has an axial bore in which aspring-biased plunger is slidably mounted. During the movement of mydevice in a golf swing. when the hitting velocity" of the practice clubis reached, centrifugal force will move the plunger and cause it tostrike an anvil and make a loud clicking sound. This sound should occurat the bottom of the swing. On the follow through of the golf swing, theslowing down of the club speed to a certain point will permit theplunger spring to reset the plunger automatically. A fainter clickingsound will take place when the plunger is reset and a spring-biased balldetent will engage with the plunger for holding it in its resetposition. The golf swing practice club is now ready for the next golfswing.

2. Description of the Prior Art The U.S. Pat. to Joseph .I. Connolly,No. 3,136,546, issued June 9, I964, is for a swingable practice gameimplement with slidable weight. A shaft has a head in which a slidingweight is mounted for limited axial movement. Spring pressed balldetents are carried by the weight and are received in short keepergrooves for spacing the weight a predetermined distance from a stopcollar and another set of spring pressed ball detents are carried by theweight and a receivable in a second keeper groove for spacing the weighta less distance from the stop collar. The weight has a projection thatextends through an opening in the stop collar and this projection ismanually depressed after each swing of the device by the user to resetthe sliding weight. In my golf swing practice club the slidable plungerautomatically resets itself during the follow through of the golf swingand serves an additional purpose of sounding a less loud click at themoment of resetting. This less loud click should occur not before thegolfers arms reaches at least waist high in the follow through swing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of my invention is to provide a golfswing practice club that will permit the golfer to practice his swingindoors and at any time. The device has novel means for producing a loudclick when the hitting velocity" of the club head, i.e. the weightedbody, has been reached. Itis important that the swinging velocity of thepractice club be at its greatest velocity when the club is at the bottomof the down swing and the golfer can swing the device until the loudclick occurs at this point in the swing.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the typedescribed in which the mechanism for producing the loud click when theclub head reaches its hitting velocity, will automatically reset itselfduring the followthrough of the golf swing. in addition, the resettingof the clicking mechanism will produce a fainter or less loud click atthe time of resetting and this occurs when the club head decelerates toa certain speed. The fainter click should occur when the golfers armsare about waist high on his followthrough swing. The golfer can practicethis portion of the swing until the fainter click occurs at the rightmoment. Therefore my device can aid the golfer in producing a propergolf swing and he can practice until the device produces a loud clickwhen the club head is at the bottom of the golf swing and subsequentlyproduces a fainter click when the golfers arms reach the proper positionon the followthrough portion of the golf swing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an elevational view of mydevice shown on a smaller than full-size scale.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the weighted body of the device andshows the clicking and resetting mechanism full size.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 andillustrates the sound receiving chambers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In carrying out my invention Iprovide a linear shaft A with a handle B at one end and a weighted bodyC at the other end. The total length of the device is about 25 inchesalthough I do not wish to be confined to any particular measurement. Theweighted body C is preferably cylindrical in shape and has a centralaxial extending bore 1 which is threaded at its upper end and receivesthe lower threaded end 2 of the shaft A. In the bore 1, I slidably mounta plunger D and this plunger has an annular groove 3 near its lower end.The weighted body C has a radially extending bore 4 that communicateswith the axial bore 1. The bore 4 also registers with the annular groove3 in the plunger D when the top of the plunger contacts with the lowerend of the threaded portion 2 of the shaft A.

A spring-biased ball detent E is slidably received in the radial bore 4and a coil spring 5 is mounted in the bore and yieldingly urges thecheck ball or detent E into the annular groove 3 when the plunger D isin its uppermost position and is in contact with the lower end of thethreaded portion 2 of the shaft A. A screw plug 6 is received in anenlarged threaded portion of the radial bore 4 and the outer end of thespring 5 contacts with the inner end of the screw plug. When the golfpractice club is swung through an arc by a golfer practicing his swing,centrifugal force will cause the plunger D to move downwardly in theaxial bore 1 when the club head or weighted body C attains a certainspeed and the ball check E will be forced out of the annual groove 3 topermit this movement.

I provide a plunger resetting coil spring F and mount this in the axialbore 1. The lower end of the plunger D has a cylindrical projection 7that receives the upper end of the plunger resetting spring F. An anvilscrew G is received in the lower threaded end of the axial bore 1 and ithas a cylindrical projection 8 for receiving the lower end of the springF. During the downward portion of the golfers swing, the body C willreach a speed sufficient for centrifugal force to move the plungerdownwardly in the axial bore 1 and strike the anvil screw G with a loudclicking noise which is readily heard by the golfer. On thefollowthrough portion of the same swing, the speed of the body C andplunger D will be reduced to such a point that the resetting spring Fwill overcome the reduced centrifugal force and will return the plungerback to its starting position where it will strike the lower end of thethreaded portion 2 of the shaft A and make a fainter clicking soundwhich can also be heard by the golfer. The ball check E will enter theannular groove 3 in the plunger at this point and the device will beautomatically reset, ready for the next swing by the golfer.

Referring to the horizontal section of FIG. 3 and the verticaltransverse section of FIG. 2, it will be noted that I provide theweighted body C with four radially extending soundconveying chambers orbores 9 that communicate with the axial bore 1 at positions adjacent tothe top of the anvil screw G. These four bores extend at angles withrespect to each other and their axes all lie in a common plane thatextends at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bore II. The topof the projection 8 on the anvil screw G substantially lies in the samehorizontal plane and when the projection 7 on the lower end of theplunger D strikes the projection 8 when the downward movement of theplunger in the bore 1 is suddenly terminated. the loud clicking soundproduced will travel outwardly through the four sound-conveying bores 9rather than through the relatively thick wall of the body C thatsurrounds the axial bore 1. The loud click is thus transmitted out fromthe body C and can be readily heard by the golfer.

On the other hand, it will be noted that 1 do not provide any additionalsound-conveying bores, similar to the bores 9, which would communicatewith the axial bore 1 adjacent to the lower end of the threaded portion2 of the shaft A, where the fainter clicking sound is produced by thetop of the plunger D striking this lower threaded portion on its returnmovement in the bore 1. In this way there is a clear distinction in theloudness of the click produced by the plunger striking the anvil screw Gon the downswing of the device and the fainter click produced on thefollowthrough portion of the swing when the plunger is reset by thereturn spring F.

1 provide a resilient cap or cup-shaped cover H, that snugly fits on thelower end of the weighted body C for protecting the device and anyarticle the golfer might accidentally contact. The lower end of theweighted body C has a reduced cylindrical portion for receiving thecylindrical wall of the cup-shaped cover. The outer surface of thecylindrical wall of the cover H lies flush with the outer cylindricalsurface of the body C. In addition the cover or cap H has a centralopening 10 in its lower wall and this provides an air passage thatcommunicates with an axial bore 11 formed in the anvil screw G. Also thethreaded lower end 2 of the shaft A has an axial bore 12 thatcommunicates with the bore 1 in the body C and also communicates withthe hollow interior portion of the shaft. The purpose of this is toprevent any trapping of air in the bore 1 during the reciprocation ofthe plunger D in the bore. The cap H covers the outer ends of the fourradial bores 9, but it will not prevent either click from being heard bythe user.

OPERATION From the foregoing description of the various parts of thedevice, the operation thereof may be readily understood. l have alreadyexplained how a swinging of my practice club by the golfer will causethe plunger D to move when the club swing is travelling at a speedsufficient for centrifugal force to overcome the compressive force ofthe spring F and the detent E. The golfer practices in swinging the clubso that its greatest swinging speed is made at the bottom of thedownswing portion and the loud click made by the plunger striking theanvil screw G will occur at this point if the golf swing is correctlyexecuted. The sound-conveying chambers 9 transmit the loud click so thatit can be heard by the golfer and the rubber cover or tip H does notexcessively muffle the clicking sound even though it covers the outerends of the bores 9. If the loud click occurs before the club headenters the hitting area, i.e. at the bottom of the swing, the golfer ishitting from the top and he will lose both power and accuracy. Theplayer's wrists must uncock late" in the downswing of the club in orderto deliver a maximum club head speed to achieve maximum golf balltravel. A premature loud click of the device means that the wrists haveuncocked too soon. At the bottom of the downswing portion of the correctswing, the golfer should feel definitely the club head pulling as heswings it through the ball."

The followthrough portion of the club swing slows down the speed of theclub and permits the spring F to reset the plunger D. The plunger willstrike the threaded end 2 of the shaft A and cause a fainter or lessloud click to sound. If this reset fainter click takes place too earlyafter the loud click, the golfer knows that he is not executing a fullfollowthrough of his swing with his arms being fully extended at the endof the swing. The fainter reset click should not take place before thegolfers arms reach at least waist high in the followthrough portion ofthe swing. The purpose of the device is to instruct the golfer todevelop a correct golf swing. The loud click and fainter reset clicktake place automatically and it is not necessary to manually reset theplunger D. The weight of the device is such as to give to the golfer thefeeling of a club slightly heavier than a standard golf club when swung.

lclaim:

1. In combination:

a. a linear shaft having a handle at one end;

b. a weighted body having an axial bore extending therethrough, theother end of said shaft having a threaded portion received in a threadedend portion of the bore;

c. a plunger slidably mounted in the bore and the end of the shaftthreaded portion acting as a reset stop for the plunger in sliding inone direction in the bore;

d. an anvil screw closing the other end of the bore and acting asanother stop for the plunger when it slides in the other direction;

e. yielding means for holding said plunger in its reset position; and

f. a reset spring for returning the plunger to its reset position;

g. whereby a swinging of the shaft and body at a predetermined speedwill cause centrifugal force to move the plunger in the bore to releasethe plunger holding means and permit the plunger to strike the anvilscrew with a loud clicking sound, the slowing down of the swinging shaftreducing the centrifugal force to a point where the reset spring willreturn the plunger to its initial position where it will strike thereset stop and produce a fainter click, said yielding means holding theplunger in its reset position.

2. The combination as set forth in claim I: and in which said yieldingmeans including an annular groove in the plunger and a spring-biaseddetent in said body yieldingly held in the plunger groove when theplunger is in reset position for normally holding the plunger in thisreset position.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1: and in which a. saidweighted body having a plurality of radially extending sound-conveyingbores leading from the axial bore to the outer surface of said body, theradial bores communicating with the axial bore at points adjacent to theinner end of the anvil screw;

b. whereby the loud clicking sound made by the plunger striking theanvil screw will be transmitted through the radial bores.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3: and in which a rubber coverencloses the free end of said weighted body.

5. ln a device of the type described:

a. a body having an axial bore therein;

b. a plunger slidably mounted in the bore;

c. a first stop provided at one end of the bore and a second stopprovided at the other end of the bore; and

d. a plunger resetting spring placed in the bore and having one endbearing against the adjacent end of the plunger and its other endbearing against said first stop; said plunger being moved by centrifugalforce when said body is swung in a certain direction, the plunger movingtoward said first stop and compressing said spring, the plunger stoppingits movement when striking said first stop and making a clicking sound;said spring returning said plunger to its reset position and strikingsaid second stop when the moving body is reduced in speed and the forceof the spring overcomes the centrifugal force, the plunger making afainter clicking sound when striking said second stop.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5: and in which yielding meansis provided for holding said plunger in its reset position.

7. The combination as set forth in claim 5: and in which a. said bodyhaving a plurality of radially extending soundconveying bores leadingfrom said axial bore to the outer surface of said body, said radialbores communicating with said axial bores at points adjacent to saidfirst stop;

b. whereby the clicking sound made by said plunger when striking saidfirst stop will be transmitted through said sound-conveying bores.

1. In combination: a. a linear shaft having a handle at one end; b. aweighted body having an axial bore extending therethrough, the other endof said shaft having a threaded portion received in a threaded endportion of the bore; c. a plunger slidably mounted in the bore and theend of the shaft threaded portion acting as a reset stop for the plungerin sliding in one direction in the bore; d. an anvil screw closing theother end of the bore and acting as another stop for the plunger when itslides in the other direction; e. yielding means for holding saidplunger in its reset position; and f. a reset spring for returning theplunger to its reset position; g. whereby a swinging of the shaft andbody at a predetermined speed will cause centrifugal force to move theplunger in the bore to release the plunger holding means and permit theplunger to strike the anvil screw with a loud clicking sound, theslowing down of the swinging shaft reducing the centrifugal force to apoint where the reset spring will return the plunger to its initialposition where it will strike the reset stop and produce a fainterclick, said yielding means holding the plunger in its reset position. 2.The combination as set forth in claim 1: and in which said yieldingmeans including an annular groove in the plunger and a spring-biaseddetent in said body yieldingly held in the plunger groove when theplunger is in reset position for normally holding the plunger in thisreset position.
 3. The combination as set forth in claim 1: and in whicha. said weighted body having a plurality of radially extendingsound-conveying bores leading from the axial bore to the outer surfaceof said body, the radial bores communicating with the axial bore atpoints adjacent to the inner end of the anvil screw; b. whereby the loudclicking sound made by the plunger striking the Anvil screw will betransmitted through the radial bores.
 4. The combination as set forth inclaim 3: and in which a rubber cover encloses the free end of saidweighted body.
 5. In a device of the type described: a. a body having anaxial bore therein; b. a plunger slidably mounted in the bore; c. afirst stop provided at one end of the bore and a second stop provided atthe other end of the bore; and d. a plunger resetting spring placed inthe bore and having one end bearing against the adjacent end of theplunger and its other end bearing against said first stop; said plungerbeing moved by centrifugal force when said body is swung in a certaindirection, the plunger moving toward said first stop and compressingsaid spring, the plunger stopping its movement when striking said firststop and making a clicking sound; said spring returning said plunger toits reset position and striking said second stop when the moving body isreduced in speed and the force of the spring overcomes the centrifugalforce, the plunger making a fainter clicking sound when striking saidsecond stop.
 6. The combination as set forth in claim 5: and in whichyielding means is provided for holding said plunger in its resetposition.
 7. The combination as set forth in claim 5: and in which a.said body having a plurality of radially extending sound-conveying boresleading from said axial bore to the outer surface of said body, saidradial bores communicating with said axial bores at points adjacent tosaid first stop; b. whereby the clicking sound made by said plunger whenstriking said first stop will be transmitted through saidsound-conveying bores.